Reflections on Collision
Posted by grindz145 on December 05 2008 12:28:39
I now have a few weeks since my accident where I totaled both my and another persons car. Thankfully, remarkably, nobody was injured. This single fact is how I can bare to move forward productively. There are alot of things running through my head lately regarding the risks we take every day and how avoidable pretty much any accident is, but also how impossible it is to avoid every accident.
I am a motorcyclist primarily, so the lack of a metal cage is something that I look favorably upon. After the last couple weeks, I am surprised to say I am glad to have had it. Does this mean I am more afraid to ride my bike? Should I be?
Well first you have to understand how this accident happened. There were no poor road conditions and no obvious distractions. No aggressive or outright delinquent behavior. Simply, an unfamiliar dark road and surprise (to me) stop sign along with a breif lack of focus. I keep trying to replay the event and figure out how to fix it. The fact of the matter is; the only thing I could have done was pay more attention. But how? I am not sure. The fact of the matter is that there are things on our minds and were not machines.
The fact is if it was a Motorcycle I had hit, the story would not be one of monetary damage and frustration, but rather true tragic loss. Thankfully, that is not the case. It certainly makes someone think twice about driving anything but a humvee around.
Lessons to be learned:
1. Accidents will happen, but even something as simple as taking only familiar roads in the darkness can make you a safer rider/driver.
2. Even the person that pulls out in front of you when you are riding, is likely not a person who is a negligent human, but is more likely just making a mistake as we all do. I have seen people make alot of bad decisions and not end in an accident. But still, I cannot point to a bad decision I made, simply a reaction that did not occur. We are all fualty machines in this way and its clear we need to program ourselves constantly.
3. I am a much better rider than I am a driver. I can't imagine making this mistake on my bike. I would never have been on that dark road at night (largely for fear of large animals) and I would have likely, noticed the stop sign. Is this wishful thinking? Probably quite a bit, but there is no doubt in my mind, that there are fundamentally different things happening in your brain between driving and riding. Its hard to say what the actual implications of this is. What I can deduce is that the defensive riding is the ONLY kind of riding you want to be doing at any point, period.
4. Even though it was a terrible accident, I believe that even if a collision did occur with a motorcycle, the outcome would have still not been fatal, assuming the rider was well equipped with safety protection. WEAR YOUR GEAR, and wear your SEATBELT why the hell not, seriously?
The bottom line: I messed up huge. We all do it. We're all human. If you are like me, and riding is something that you live for, then there is no question that the risks are worth it. No matter what you drive/ride/fly whatever, no matter how good a driver are you are not perfect and you can screw up. It has been very hard for me to come to terms with that. But the fact is, the more effort taken to avoid such problems, the less likely they are to happen... be cautious and appreciate every day. We all have fewer of them then we tend to acknowledge.